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Man takes plea deal in stabbing at Gardens North

Aug 19, 2013 - By Eric Blom, Staff Writer

A Riverton man has pleaded no contest to aggravated assault for stabbing another man in May at a home in the Gardens North subdivision north of Honor Farm Road.

The plea followed an agreement with prosecutors that saw an attempted second-degree murder charge dropped.

According to the deal, the maximum sentence either side could argue for would be eight years in prison. The penalty for aggravated assault can carry a penalty of probation up to 10 years in prison, and attempted second-degree murder is punishable by 20 years to life in prison.

Patrick Vincent Duran, 24,of Riverton, was charged for stabbing Stefan Bigmedicine, 30, three times in the side of the chest on May 26 at a residence in the Gardens North subdivision north of Honor Farm Road.

Court documents show Bigmedicine's wounds resulted in damage to internal organs, including a liver laceration.

The original agreement had Duran pleading guilty to the assault charge, but the deal changed.

"My client will have to plead no contest because he will not be able to provide a factual basis due to his level of intoxication on the night in question," Duran's lawyer Terry Martin said.

Why Duran stabbed Bigmedi-cine had been a mystery.

Speaking to the court, Duran said on May 26 he blacked out after he and Bigmedicine were speaking on the porch of the Gardens North residence.

Duran said his intoxication rated about a seven or eight on Young's scale of one being completely sober to 10 being "stumbling, fumbling drunk."

Young accepted Duran's plea and convicted him of aggravated assault, and continued Duran's $200,000 bond. The judge will impose a sentence at a later hearing.

At the Gardens North home on the day of the incident, Duran asked Bigmedicine if they could "talk about Patrick Duran's cousin," according to an affidavit in the case.

The two went outside to talk, and Tracy Dewey -- Bigmedicine's girlfriend -- said she didn't observe any conflict at that time.

Once they were back in the residence, Dewey and Bigmedicine reportedly were sitting at the dining room table, with another man, Colin Amos, leaning against the dining room wall while Duran stood slightly behind Bigmedicine -- between Bigmedicine and Amos. Duran then moved forward and struck Bigmedicine in the right side three times.